A Great Depression-era church in downtown Colorado Springs that went on the market more than a year ago has sold for $4 million to — wait for it — another prominent local church, one of a different flavor but that embraces the same Christian underpinnings.

Woodmen Valley Chapel at the end of December acquired the First Christian Church, which opened 90 years ago at the corner of North Cascade and East Platte avenues.

“It’s fun to be the newbies in an old neighborhood,” said the Rev. Josh Lindstrom, lead pastor of teaching and vision at Woodmen Valley Chapel for the past decade.

While 46 years old itself and having grown to a notable profile of 7,000 congregants spread across five campuses, Woodmen Valley has never had a downtown location, he said.

For the past six years, the growing church that’s headquartered in the northwest Rockrimmon neighborhood, has leased space for Sunday services inside a charter school in southwest Colorado Springs for one of its four campuses in El Paso County.

“We kept looking for a permanent site, but we were not finding anything that was going to work,” Lindstrom said. “It was really an answer to our prayers when this became available.”

A $2 million phased renovation began last month to make the interior more workable for Woodmen Valley’s Southwest Campus — now being renamed the Woodmen Downtown Campus.

The new location for the congregation, which has about 300 weekly Sunday attendees at its current southwest site, is scheduled to open on Easter, April 20.

The historic building will retain its medieval English Gothic-style look, but the feel inside is changing to better reflect the nondenominational church’s character.

For example, a small library with a narrow door and a period fireplace is being enlarged to become a large welcoming and gathering space outside the sanctuary.

Many small rooms are being reconfigured to a more open layout, Lindstrom said.

“We want to retain as much of the traditional beauty of this place as we can,” he said while giving a tour of the renovation by the local WD Construction office. “We don’t want that to change — it’s got a sweet vibe.”

Staying are thick, exposed wooden beams overhead and stained-glass windows that let colored light into the sanctuary and what will become staff offices on the second floor.

Gone from the worship space is the majestic, floor-to-ceiling pipe organ, sold to a church in Albuquerque, said Greg Hock, chair of the board of trustees of First Christian Church.

In its place, a high-tech sound system to better accentuate Woodmen Valley’s live contemporary Christian music is being installed.

Asbestos is being removed in some parts of the large, 44,000-square-foot building, and upgrades and refurbishments are in progress.

Also on the “keep” list is the property’s popular prayer labyrinth outside that attracts faithful of various persuasions to walk its circular path and pray.

Rainbow banners won’t be on display, as was a focus of First Christian Church, a member of the Disciples of Christ Protestant denomination that since 2013 “affirms and welcomes LGBTQ+ people in all aspects of church life, including leadership roles.”

While nondenominational, Woodmen Valley Chapel takes a traditional Christian stance on matters of human sexuality, gender, marriage and clergy.

To fulfill its vision to “love well and change lives through Christ,” Lindstrom said Woodmen Valley plans to infuse itself into the urban environment by opening a public coffee shop facing Cascade Avenue.

It will be built on the lower level of an adjacent apartment complex that First Christian Church acquired in 1953 and turned into an education wing that connects to the main church building. Plans call for church interns to live upstairs in the old apartments.

First Christian fielded many inquiries about the property, Hock said, but zoning and other challenges, such as losing grandfathered status for building codes, created barriers for non-church entities to purchase the site.

Hock said he’s excited that the building that housed the city’s first Disciples of Christ congregation will continue to be used to “glorify God and reinvigorate the space for continued Christian witness to the community.”

Lindstrom describes his congregation as welcoming, comforting and willing to walk with anyone who is seeking or solidifying the Christian faith.

Woodmen Valley already has a collegial relationship with some other downtown churches, including First Presbyterian and New Life. The churches have come together for citywide cleanup projects, Lindstrom said, and leaders of downtown churches of all denominations meet regularly.

“Sometimes there’s a competitive vibe, but we haven’t experienced that in Colorado Springs — there’s a real camaraderie among the churches,” he said.

Faced with declining membership and financial issues, 93% of First Christian’s members voted to sell the property in October 2023.

First Christian Church now is holding Sunday worship services in the First United Methodist Church chapel, just a few blocks to the east, and maintains separate administrative offices there, Hock said.

“I think the new buyer can do things our congregation was not able to do,” he said. “I believe the buyer saw the worship dimension it could bring to the downtown faith community.”

Lindstrom cites downtown’s new residential apartment units, the close proximity of college and high school students, and development of more diversions as opportunities to reach more people.